Siberia, Alaska Land Bridge

The prevailing theory has been that people followed herds of migrating animals across an ancient land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and then moved southward along the West coast. Proof has been hard to come by, however. The sea – about 60 metres lower at the time –would have inundated the remains of coastal settlements as it rose.

A team led by anthropologist Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University reports on the new seaweed study from Monte Verde, Chile, in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

There is a continuous mountain chain along the western side of the Americas, Mr. Dillehay explained in a briefing, with thousands of rivers and streams flowing down the mountains to the ocean.

This would have encouraged north-to-south migration, he explained, with some groups choosing to turn and follow rivers inland.

Earliest American find detailed - The Globe and Mail

Technorati Tags: alaska, siberia, land bridge, settlers

Food Not Lawns - Alaska

SITKA, Alaska

The notion that it’s impossible to grow vegetables in Sitka falls away quickly when you visit Florence Welsh. Cabbages the size of bowling balls line one side of the her driveway, and giant cauliflower ears, lettuce beds, and broccoli are just a few steps away.

Next to her garage, up a slight hill, are fresh flowers, with pink and purple canterbury bells and delphiniums growing under the protection of a roof that keeps the rain off and shields them from the wind.

Growing beds are around every corner with potatoes, zucchini, carrots, chives, mint, basil, chard, rhubarb, and fennel — the list goes on. A good deal of what Ms. Welsh is growing, including fresh cut flowers, will be available at this year’s Sitka Farmers’ Market.

Besides Welsh, market co-coordinators Kerry MacLane and Linda Wilson said, there are two other main vegetable providers who will operate tables at the market: Gimbal Botanicals, which is run by Hope Merritt, and the Sitka Local Foods Network, which has been tending to the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm.

All three operations are completely organic, grown with post-spawn seaweed as the primary fertilizer.

It is a technique that Welsh has advocated since 1984, when she began her growing operation in Sitka. She avoids chemicals and uses lightweight, gauzelike row covers to keep bugs off her developing plants.

In Sitka, Alaska, ‘food not lawns’ takes hold | csmonitor.com

Technorati Tags: alaska, food, gardening, organic

Geeks in Alaska

Alaska: Geeks dwell here, too, it's not all Palin and mush-dog races. - Boing Boing

Pat Race of Alaska Robotics, whose "Buy Back Alaska" video was featured here a couple years ago, has created a new video about crushing absurdity of national economics. It's embedded above, and I think it's sweet and funny in a homey, dorky, "I made this!" way.

From the land of Sarah Palin, meth shacks, and aerial elk-massacres, he emails Boing Boing:

Alaska Robotics is Pat Race, Aaron Suring, Lou Logan, Sarah Asper-Smith, and whoever else falls into our cast of friends and family. We live in Juneau where we make short films, draw comics, and eat halibut. We organize screenings of locally made short films twice a year and also work to bring filmmakers, animators and writers north to teach workshops.

Technorati Tags: geeks, alaska